The Insideoutinator
by ErinMilne
Summary: The latest addition to Odd Squad's library of gadgets has the ability to take agents into a world they never knew existed - their own minds. It's all fun and games until something goes horribly wrong, and the world order is in danger of collapsing. Who can ever save the day this time? Not our Main Seven... well, technically, yes... but still no... JUST READ IT, OKAY!
1. Chapter 1: The Adventures Begin

Otto slowly came to. He wasn't sure just what had happened to him, but had a hunch it had to do with Oscar's new gadget. The newly elected President of Odd Squad's Science department had been showing off the gadget to him and his partner and co-director, Olive. Apparently it didn't work when simply zapped into the air, like the Tinynoteinator, so Oscar had believed it only worked when zapped on someone. Otto, interested and curious, had volunteered.

The thing had looked harmless enough: the usual blue and white, with five different colored spots in a circle, in yellow, blue, purple, green, and red. Besides, Oscar had never invented a gadget capable of killing anyone. None of the Odd Squad scientists ever did. Obbs's mind-control gadget was the most dangerous thing ever to appear. Otto had full confidence in his freind, but something he couldn't quite place still nagged at him.

Otto could hear voices around him, not Olive's or Oscar's, but still familiar. One, a female voice, moaned, "We're never gonna get this to work..."

"Oh, yes we will!" countered a male voice. "Look, the blink function still works."

"Sure, Joy, but nothing else is!" snapped another guy.

 _Did he just call him 'Joy'?_ Otto thought. _I thought that was a girl's name..._ He almost stopped mid-thought when he heard his own voice echoing his thoughts back to him from outside.

Another male voice gasped, "What was that?"

"Well, something else still works," a girl's voice remarked sarcastically.

 _What is going on?_ Otto's voice sounded again. Now slightly worried, he sat up (apparently he was on a floor). His surroundings were comfortingly familiar. A ball pit, a slide, that big circular thingy hanging from the ceiling, five colorful creatures crowded around some kind of control panel...

Now that was definitely not familiar.

"Okay, guys, we can work with this!" the one in the center said. Otto was pretty sure it was the one they had called Joy. If that was the case, then Joy was the tallest of the five, with golden yellow skin and Otto's black hair and Management outfit. Well, at least the purple sneakers.

"His thoughts responded to our conversation!" argued the guy next to Joy. Like Joy, he had Otto's hair, but this guy was shorter and thinner, and purple. His outfit looked more like an Investigation uniform.

The first girl Otto had heard said, "I think I'll go check the Mind Manuals. Maybe there's something in there." She turned around, and caught Otto's eye. She was shorter than Joy, and rounder, and blue. She wore glasses over sapphire-blue eyes, and she was dressed up like a Maintenance agent. Long, shoulder-length black hair fell over her shoulders.

Otto waved slightly. "Uh, hi?" he said, his voice quavering.

"Guys?" the blue girl said half over her shoulder. "Otto's right here in Headquarters."

All activity stopped short. Four more pairs of eyes turned themselves on Otto.

"Well, this changes things," muttered a green girl in a Medical uniform.

"Disgust, be nice," Joy urged. He carefully approached Otto. From the front, Otto could now see that Joy was, indeed wearing the same purple tie as him, and had blue eyes even brighter than the blue girl's. "Wow," he gasped. "I never thought I'd see you face to face-to-face."

"Sorry, but who are you, and where am I?"

"Oh, my bad. I'm Joy, but you probably figured that out already. And as to your second question... you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I've seen robot princesses and flying goldfish," Otto assured Joy with a laugh. "I'll probably believe you."

"Oh, right," Joy laughed back. "I should have known you'd say that. Well, you're in your own mind."

"Whaaaaat?"

"I knew he wouldn't believe him," the blue girl murmured.

"Oh, no, I believe you, it's just..." For a moment, Otto couldn't find the right words. "I'm just so amazed. Oscar is a genius!"

"I know, right?" Joy replied with a wide, toothy grin. "For starters, she's Sadness."

As Sadness and Otto shyly waved, Joy continued, "These guys would be Disgust, Fear, and Anger," pointing at the green girl, the purple boy, and a blocky red male figure in a Security outfit.

Otto inquired, "So, are you guys supposed to be my feelings or something like that?"

"Technically, we're your emotions," Joy answered. "We live and work here in Headquarters. Our job as a group is to get you through your day-to-day life, but we each have our own specific functions. I provide for that sense of wonder you need every day, Sadness insures that you have a shoulder to cry on whenever you need it, Fear keeps you safe, Disgust wards off physical and social poisoning, and Anger makes sure things are fair."

"Wow. So how do you do all that?"

"Oh, we just use the console over here." Joy took Otto's hand (Otto noted, it was surprisingly solid for consisting of particles) and led him to the control panel. It was boxy, with a blue stripe around the bottom, and covered with buttons, levers, switches, and who-knows-what else. "Right now most of the functions aren't working, but you can try the blink button if you want," Joy offered, pointing at a small blue button near the top of the console. Otto went to press it, but ended up pressing the green button next to it. A whooshing noise sounded behind him, and Otto turned around just in time to see a glowing purple sphere drop from a tube in the ceiling and suspend in place. A beam of light hit it and projected an video image Otto recognized onto the screen before them.

"Isn't that the time Olive was being tube-blocked and I had to deal with the Laser Chicken myself?" asked Otto.

Joy laughed, "Yes, sir! Looks like you triggered the Random Recall by mistake. Happens to me all the time. Well, now one other thing works!"

"What's the purple ball supposed to be?"

"It's one of your memories. See, we emotions are at the console at various times, and the memory that's made always corresponds to the emotions that were working the console at the time."

"I made that particular one," Fear said with a touch of pride.

"That's really neat," Otto said. "So you have memories of everything I've ever done?"

"Unless you count the forgotten ones, which are rotting at the bottom of the Memory Dump," Disgust remarked.

Joy ignored Disgust and dragged Otto over to the far side of Headquarters, explaining, "Your most important memories are over here." The emotion stamped on a button on the ground, and a podium rose out of the floor. In it were nestled more glowing balls, brighter than the memories Otto had already seen. "Core Memories," Joy continued. "Each one connects to one of your Islands of Personality, see them out there?"

Otto nodded, looking out past the floor-to-ceiling window. The islands were connected to Headquarters by long, thin bridges. Each island was uniquely suited to Otto - one featured his likeness and Olive's sharing a high-five, another featured his favorite foods, there was one that looked like the Soundcheck Room he had created, and one more featured many of the things he found funniest.

"These are what make you you," Joy explained proudly. "We got Partner Island, Food Island, Soundcheck Island, Humor Island..."

"I never knew I was so complicated," Otto shrugged.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I hate to break this up," Fear interrupted, "but it sounds like Olive and Oscar are getting worried out there."

"Sad to say, you can't stay here forever," Sadness added.

"Looks like they're going to use the gadget again," Anger commented. Indeed, Oscar had just flashed the gadget in the direction of the window.

"Nice meeting you!" Otto called as he disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2: Oona Is Awesome

"Hey, Otis, Olympia!" The partners looked up from their paperwork to see Oona, Head of Science, jogging towards them with a jumble of gadgets in her arms. "Can you guys help me find something that adds up to 1572?"

"Of course we can!" Olympia leapt up from her desk and took a couple of gadgets, examining the numbers.

"Hey, slow down, partner," Otis urged. "Oona, seriously, what's going on? This isn't another time loop problem, is it?"

Oona laughed aloud. "Oh, you're so funny, Otis! Actually, no, it isn't. Oscar just sent me the blueprints for this new gadget he invented - he calls it the Insideoutinator and claims it's the awesomest gadget ever - but I don't have enough spare parts after fixing the Curtianinator and Unphotoinator. So, if I want to find out how awesome this gadget really is, I have to combine gadgets."

"Don't you have other stuff to work on?"

"Yeah, but I put off the seventeenth dusting of the lab counters. Priorities, right?"

"Yeah. Priorities." Sighing internally, Otis stood up and picked up a gadget.

* * *

"Aaaaand done!" Olympia attached the last gadget to the contraption. "Lady and gentleman, we have ourselves an Insideoutinator!"

"How does this work again?" Otis inquired.

Oona explained, "According to Oscar, someone needs to zap someone else with the gadget, then zap them again when they're done. 'The signal we agreed on is two blinks,' he said. So, which of you wants to go first?"

"I'll do it." Otis was surprised that the words had just jumped out of his mouth like that. Admittedly, he was curious about what the Insideoutinator could do, and also a little worried, which was probably why he'd volunteered himself before his partner did anything reckless (and he knew she likely would).

"All right, Otis," Oona shrugged. "Just let me make sure I'm holding the gadget right - don't want to accidentally zap myself! Yeah, that's got it." The scientist poked one of the buttons on the makeshift gadget, and beams of colored light streamed out and enveloped her. When they dissipated, Oona was simply standing there, blinking furiously, the makeshift Insideoutinator still in her arms.

Olympia gasped in horror, but Otis managed to keep a straight face. "Well, that happened..."

* * *

"Thegadgethitustheconsoleisn'tworkingwe'reDOOOOOOOOOOMED!" Until Oona heard this panicked rant, she'd assumed she was dead, but now she was figuring otherwise. _Guess I was holding it wrong after all,_ she thought with an internal chuckle. Or, at least, she thought it was internal. She could clearly hear her own words echoing back to her from outside.

"Fear, if you start screaming again," growled a male voice, "I swear to Odd that I will throw you straight through the window!"

"She's fainted again," another female voice sighed. "Guess the ThoughtCom was too much for her."

A new male voice scoffed, "Why was the ThoughtCom even working? The console is down. Oona's unconscious."

"No, I'm not!" Oona yelled, sitting up and clearly startling the five colorful humanoids before her. "I'm right here, aren't I?"

"Well, this changes things." This was spoken by a yellow girl with Oona's long brown hair and her own bright blue eyes, dressed up like a Ms. O. "Welcome to your Headquarters, Oona! I'm Joy."

"Nice to meet you, Joy!" Oona stepped over and grabbed Joy's hand. "Wait, did you say Headquarters? Where are Olympia and Otis?"

"Not that Headquarters," sighed the green guy in a Medical uniform. "You may not understand this right away, but this is your mind. We're your emotions. Call me Disgust, by the way."

"Yeah, I'm Sadness," a blue girl in a Maintenance uniform added pitifully. "I'm third in command up here. Fear's number two, but she fainted." Sadness indicated the skinny purple girl in a familiar-looking lab coat lying nearby.

Oona gushed, "Wow, Oscar was right! The Insideoutinator is awesome!"

"I know, right?!" Joy squealed. "Wait till you see the Personality Islands!" The yellow girl dragged the scientist over to a window on the far side of the room, where Oona could see colorful islands standing in a row. "Science Island is almost never down. There's one for your love of music, and one for being a total fangirl, and - oh, that one is all about Oscar. He's kind of a big deal here."

"That infernal 'Oscar Is Awesome' is always playing - " started the blocky red guy wearing what looked like an Investigation outfit. Suddenly, a golden orb dropped in from a tube in the ceiling and suspended in a beam. The aforementioned song began to play, and the red guy groaned aloud.

"That would be one of your memories," Joy explained. "It's yellow because I was at the console when we made it."

"That's really cool, you guys!" Oona started back towards the console. "Seriously, I think I should be getting back now."

Disgust shrugged and offered, "I think maybe we need to give Olympia and Otis the double-blink signal."

Sadness pressed the little blue button twice. Outside, the group could see Olympia fumbling with the gadget until she fired it. In a flash of light, Oona disappeared.

"So what are we going to tell Fear?"

* * *

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Oona shouted as she returned to the real world. "Olympia, Otis, you have to try this. Seriously, you will not regret it."

"Is it really that cool?" Olympia inquired, eyes wide open and mouth grinning.

Oona smirked and held up the gadget. "Want to find out for yourself, girlfreind?"


	3. Chapter 3: Inspection Day

Olive slumped down into her swivel chair, head placed firmly in hands, and exhaled a long stream of air. Even by the standards of an Odd Squad Director's day, today had been exhausting. First, there had been that tour group of Academy recruits - boy, had they been loud. Olive had been peppered with questions throughout the entire tour. Not just the ones she'd prepared answers ahead of time for, but questions like, "Why are you wearing pants instead of a skirt?" and "What is the meaning of life?". After she'd finally concluded the tour, there had been a string of seemingly unrelated cases involving various types of livestock, buried up to their necks. And then the IT department had decided to set up a new system and asked her to help, followed by a long debate with the precinct's cook about whether or not oatmeal raisin cookies were acceptable to serve, during which Olive had discovered that Olono was nothing like Oksana personality-wise, but her identical twin when it came to the stubborn factor.

And that had just been her morning.

Next to Olive, Otto sighed, "That has got to be the most insane Creepers Jeepers vaccination _ever_. And I thought Onomatopoeia was eccentric..."

"I hear ya, partner," Olive yawned. "I can't believe we're the last ones here. It's probably midnight by now."

"Four-thirty AM, actually," corrected Otto, consulting his watch. "We should go home."

Olive shook her head and said, "Actually, I was hoping to borrow a gadget from the lab before I left..."

"Gotcha covered." Otto reached behind his back and revealed the Insideoutinator, so newly crafted it practically gleamed. "Man, it's been so long since I did that..." he said to himself, turning the now month-old gadget design around in his hands.

Olive chuckled, "You know me too well, Otto. Can you fire it?"

"Sure thing, Olive. Two blinks when you want to come back, right?"

"Right."

Otto fired the gadget, and the now-familiar beams wrapped themselves around Olive.

* * *

"Hey, guys," Olive greeted her five emotions. Looking around Headquarters, she noted that the shelves of memories, while often full at this time of day, were positively sagging under the weight of the assorted memories - mostly purple, green, and yellow, with assorted red and a blue one here and there. Her emotions greeted her back - a shy wave from Sadness, a grunt from Anger, a yawned "Hey" from Joy, a nod from Disgust, and a wave and a "Hi, Olive" from Fear, the main emotion, who stepped over to talk to Olive.

"It's been almost as crazy in our Headquarters as it was in yours today," the thin purple girl wearing Olive's Ms. O uniform chuckled nervously. "There was a wreck on the Train of Thought this morning, so we lost an entire day's worth of ideas and such. Believe me, Anger was not happy..."

"When is he ever happy?" Olive replied with a shrug. "That's Joy's department, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But what I mean is, he was yelling and stomping all over the place. You haven't seen Anger when he gets _really_ mad, and you don't want to. _I_ don't want to. Flames literally come out of the top of his head."

"How do you deal with that?"

"Sadness can make it rain whenever, and I keep all sorts of fire safety equipment around. The Fireextinguishinator really comes in handy."

"Really? We've never had to use that one."

Fear had opened her mouth to reply, but her voice echoed through Headquarters: "Don't forget - Mind Inspection today!"

"Oh, crumpets, I did forget," muttered Fear's real voice. "Looks like you'll have to stay a little longer than expected, Olive."

"What? Why?"

"Well, one of us has to go around the mind every month," Disgust explained as he stepped over, adjusting his Investigation tie, "just to make sure things are running smoothly. We usually do it once you're in bed, but obviously, you're still awake. Using the Insideoutinator puts you into a semiconscious state, so technically we could do the inspection now..."

Olive agreed, "That would work. Maybe I could even come with whoever's doing the inspection."

"That'd be me," Fear clarified. "Are you sure you want to do that? A mind is a dangerous place. You could get lost in Long-Term Memory, transformed by Abstract Thought..."

"I'd love to see more of my own mind," Olive revealed. "And besides, you're experienced. You'd know what to do in an emergency."

"I... I'm still not sure..." Fear stammered

"Oh, for Odd's sake, let her go!" snapped Disgust.

"Okay, okay, don't get so huffy," Fear said hurriedly. "I'll go signal the Train of Thought. Sadness, would you get my clipboard, please?"

* * *

Fear realized, "Wow, we have made excellent progress tonight," as she flipped through the pile of papers attached to her clipboard. "Equipment on your Personality Islands is well-stocked, Imagination Land is running smoothly, and we even convinced those Forgetters to stop sending that insipid memory up to Headquarters!"

Olive scowled at the idea of the Mind Workers getting Soundcheck songs up to get stuck in her head. "It's so... yeeeh," she finally decided."

Fear shook her head. "Those guys have a warped sense of humor. Anyway, one more stop and then we're done - and I say, the sooner the better."

"Why's that?"

"We're coming up on your Subconscious... my least favorite part of the mind. It's where they keep the things that scare you the most. Your deepest, darkest fears..." Fear visibly shuddered.

Olive placed a hand on her emotion's barely-existent shoulder. "I'm not exactly looking forward to it, either," she assured her. "But we're going to make it out of there with everything intact. We're smart and capable. We've solved a lot of problems. This should be a breeze."

"I knew you'd say that," Fear said with the hint of a smile appearing on her lips as the towering wooden doors of the Subconscious loomed into view.

* * *

It was dark inside the Subconscious. That was the first thing Olive noticed after being let in by the guards on duty. There was barely enough light to see her hand in front of her. Both Olive and Fear unclipped their badges and activated the flashlight function. Also, Olive observed it was surprisingly windy in the Subconscious... Suddenly, Fear yelled out, "Olive, take cover!" The two both hit the ground in sync as something hurled through the air and hit the wall behind them. A familiar scent hit Olive's nostrils. A sweet smell... combined with flaky crust...

"Is that..." Olive whispered.

Fear nodded. "A permanent Pienado here." She crawled off, Olive following behind. They carefully snaked through the Subconscious, avoiding pies, laser chickens, and other such horrors. Eventually, Fear decided they'd done a comprehensive check and could leave. Still on her knees, Olive followed her as she made her way back towards the gates.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" The all-too-familiar voice boomed through the Subconscious, nearly paralyzing Olive. Fear looked like she wanted to pass out at any moment, but instead whispered, "Run." Olive didn't need to be told twice. She and Fear clambered to their feet and made a beeline for the exit - until he materialized in their path and brought them to a screeching halt. It was just as he had been before she'd left to become Ms. O - the ultra-colorful suit, the white streak in his wild hair. Olive wondered how she didn't think he would be here.

Odd Todd.

"Leave us alone, Todd," Fear said firmly. "We're only passing through."

Todd pointed to Olive. "And who would she be? Has Olive created an imaginary twin? I gotta say, that's inventive of her..."

Olive locked eyes with Fear. What would they tell Todd? Would he believe the truth?

"Or should I say inventive of Oscar? Really, Olive, You don't need to keep secrets from your partner!" He threw back his head and let out his signature cackle.

"How did he do that?" Olive gasped.

Fear shook her head, nearly in disbelief. "When Todd came to the Subconscious, you had a vision of him as all-powerful. I guess he capitalized on that. Come on, let's get out of here while we still can." Turning to Todd, she added, "She has all rights to keep secrets from you, traitor. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get back." Fear briskly started walking toward the gates. Olive took one last look at Todd before following her.

Todd smirked, then disappeared into thin air.

* * *

"How was the trip?" asked Otto as Olive returned to the real world. "You were gone for a while..."

"Mind inspection," Olive explained. "You'll want to ask your emotions when yours are. It's a good chance to see the rest of your mind."

Otto yawned, "I'll remember that, but it's getting late. Let's take the secret tube entrance home."

Olive said nothing and opened the panel where the tube was hidden. "After you, partner," she offered. Once Otto had been shot away, Olive climbed in and was herself squishinated. Once she left, the panel slid closed, and the last of the lights in Headquarters flickered off.

A cackle echoed through the empty space.


	4. Chapter 4: He's Back

"What in Odd's name is going on here?" Olive exclaimed as she stepped into the foyer of her Headquarters the next day. The place was a madhouse - office supplies whirled around the open space, jungle animals ran rampant, and Olive swore she could smell orange juice. Agents were firing every gadget they had on hand, but nothing seemed to be having any effect. Olive grabbed the sleeve of the nearest agent, a short blonde boy by the name of Odin, and demanded, "Tell me everything you know, Agent."

"I don't know much, Ms. O," Odin answered. "One of my Night Shift friends mentioned a villain she didn't know about. They managed to contain some of the chaos. This is just a sample of what he's doing."

"He?"

"Osiris and I cornered him in one of the interrogation rooms. He refused to answer any of our questions. He slipped out of our hands the moment we started interrogating him. I snapped a picture on my watch, though!" Odin tapped the hexagon-shaped watch on his left wrist, and it spiraled into a tablet. Odin swiped to the picture function, and the first picture that came up was a boy wearing a colorful agent suit and sporting a hairdo with a skunk stripe through the middle.

Olive turned pale.

"Are you all right, Ms. O?" Odin inquired, gently touching her arm. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Olive defensively. "I'm going up to the office to get some more information. Tell the other agents I said to search the OddNet for a villain named Odd Todd, and keep trying to catch him. Come get me or Mr. O if anything bad happens."

"Will do, ma'am!" Odin ran off into the chaos.

"Whaaaaaaaaat?" Olive turned around to see a stunned Otto standing in the doorway to the foyer.

"It's Todd," Olive said, her voice closer to a whisper than she would have liked. "He's back. He's here."

"I thought Todd was a gardener now..."

"Let's get to the office. I'll explain there." Olive ran up the stairs to the second floor of Headquarters, Otto right behind her. Finding the office door locked, she pressed her palm against the purple octagon. With a beep and click, the sliding doors opened, allowing Olive and Otto to enter their shared office.

Otto sat down at his messier half of their shared desk. "Okay, talk to me."

"You know how I took longer than usual with the Insideoutinator last night?"

"Yeah, you said you did a mind inspection or something with your Fear."

"I did. One of the places we visited was my Subconscious. It's where dark fears and secrets are kept locked away."

"Let me guess: Todd was in yours?"

"Not exactly. It's less the real Todd and more the Todd I saw during the Pienado. All-powerful. Completely unstoppable. I think he snuck into my Headquarters and was with me when I zapped back out."

"So what does he want?"

"I don't know. But I don't want to find out. The main question is, what do we do about him? Nothing the agents have tried seems to be working."

"Maybe we could get some help from our old Squad."

"But we can't just leave our agents behind, Otto!"

"I know. How about we evacuate the place and have the Tube Operators do a lockdown while we go get help? That way, Todd won't be able to cause much more trouble."

"Good thinking, partner," said Olive with a grin. "You get that going, and I'll call Oscar and see if we can get his help."

Otto nodded, pressing the intercom button on his phone and announcing the evacuation plan while Olive, who had Oscar on speed dial, pressed the button that would lead her to his personal phone.

"Yellow!"

"Oscar, it's Olive. We have a major problem on our hands. Todd is loose in our Headquarters."

"I thought he was a gardener..."

"It's complicated. I don't have time to explain. How fast can you get to 13579?"

"Pretty fast..."

"Good. We're evacuating our Headquarters and heading there for help with this. Something tells me we'll need your help, too."

"Anything for you, Olive! I'll be there faster than you can say, Bob's your uncle! Actually, I really do have an uncle named Bob - really Robert, but he goes by - "

Olive hung up just as Otto opened their tube entrance, sliding in and squishinating with ease. Olive followed him in, making sure to close and lock the door before she crouched down.

 _Our freinds can help us out_ , thought Olive as she wooshed through the tubes. _I know it._


	5. Chapter 5: Spectacular Seven

"O'Brien," Olive and Otto greeted the tube operator on duty in unison, as they had done so many times before.

O'Brien raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Is this some kind of joke?" he inquired with a tone that heavily implied he didn't find it funny at all.

Much as Olive would have liked to comment on his perverted sense of humor, there was no time. "There's an emergency at our precinct," she explained. "We have to talk to Ms. O, now."

"Sure," replied O'Brien sarcastically. "The two former best agents of 13579 can't handle a little - "

Otto interrupted the rude tube operator by walking through the automatic doors of the tube lobby. After shooting a quick withering glance at O'Brien, Olive followed her partner in.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," said Oprah, her fingers pressed against each other. "You brought Odd Todd, in an uber-god state, from your Subconscious to your real-world Headquarters. He's there right now. You've ordered the evacuation of the precinct until he can be brought under control."

Olive nodded, shame clearly written all over her face. Otto leaped to her defense. "To be fair, it was a complete accident," he clarified.

"Fair enough," Oprah said. "I know Olive would never do anything like this intentionally. So what can we do about this?"

"None of our agents were able to corner him for more than a few moments," Otto offered. "Now that he's locked in our Headquarters, maybe we could - "

"You wanted to see us, Ms. O?" Olive and Otto turned around to see Agents Olympia and Otis walking into the office. The moment she laid eyes on the Olive and Otto, Olympia froze in place. "Is that - " she stammered.

Olive smiled, glad to see once again that her and Otto's spots on the Squad had fallen into good-hearted hands.

"Yeah, it's us," said Otto with a smirk. "No time to talk, though - right now we need your help."

"We'll do whatever we can," Otis assured the former Investigation agents.

Olive sighed. "Frankly, I'm not sure there's much we can do..."

"Hey guys!" Oscar entered the office abruptly, with Oona close behind. "Sorry we're late. Oona and I had some catching up to do."

"What's going on now?" Oona inquired. "It's Gadget-Repair Day, and I'm super busy..."

Oprah explained the situation to the newcomers, with Olive and Otto providing details as necessary. Once the explanation was over with, the seven stood in silence for a tense moment.

Oona was the first to speak. "Soooo... what are we gonna do?"

"We need to get Todd back into Olive's mind," Olympia said hopefully. "We have an Insideoutinator. He doesn't. That shouldn't be too hard!"

Olive sighed and revealed her doubts. "Todd isn't going to be as easy to deal with in this incarnation. Remember, he's super-powerful. Even the seven of us working together won't bring him down."

"Maybe seven of us won't..." Oscar considered, pulling out the Insideoutinator, "...but thirty-five might."


End file.
